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7 fields of innovation
While getting from A to B remains a fundamental element, mobility now means much more than that.
The transport users of the 21st century want to access the city and its services. They want to be able to use their travel time to work, rest, play… or simply do nothing. RATP’s R&D teams are conducting numerous experiments in an effort to anticipate and meet these needs.
New expectations
Passengers now expect more than simply to be transported from A to B. With their personal lives revolutionised by new technologies, they have no desire simply to accept their daily transport time as time over which they have no control. Not everyone has the same expectations, but people of all ages want real autonomy. Major transport operators must take these differences into account and adapt accordingly. This transformation can be described as a shift from transport to mobility.
There is also strong demand among customers for transport information tailored to the particular journey they are making, to help them make informed decisions. Mobile applications such as “Ma RATP dans la poche” [“My pocket RATP”] go some way towards satisfying this demand.
This development may lead to numerous innovations, which could be rolled out across the entire network.
Seven major avenues of development
1. Soft mobility: Real time access to
information allows transport users to navigate the city and its services
through geolocation. It can also promote all kinds of exchanges with customers,
as shown by the projects Transports Amoureux and Musetrek.
2. Innovative services for mobile individuals:
Transport users are no longer content to remain passive. Whatever the situation
and wherever they find themselves, they want to be autonomous. They want to be
helped to understand transport systems that are becoming ever more complex to
navigate. There is a need to devise a way of teaching people about mobility.
3. Active mobility: The rise of inner-city
cycling has paved the way for an all-encompassing view of day-to-day mobility,
which includes a lot of walking between the bus, metro, RER and tramway.
Walking has once again become an integral part of urban transport, with the
safety of pedestrians recognised as a matter of great importance.
4. Developmental mobility: Mobility is a form
of personal development, with health benefits for people of all ages (older
people and mobility).
5. New forms of mobility: New, hybrid systems
are developing alongside the familiar modes of public transport (bus, metro,
RER, tramway). These mix the individual and the collective, the private and the
public. One example is the upcoming Autolib project, which targets the
auto-mobility market.
6. Neuromobility: Cognitive science has
revolutionised a number of sectors. Urban transport operators can learn a lot
about the individual and collective mental processes of their customers through
work on cognition and mobility.
7. New-generation
transport infrastructures: The metro of the 21st century (M21)
cannot be the same as that of the 20th century, despite all its qualities and
its role in the development of Paris. It will be built in partnership with
businesses, local authorities and associations from the public transport sector
and other sectors.
